Saturday, September 09, 2006

Telugu schoolboy's Guinness foray

Nishchal Narayanam

Child prodigy నిశ్చల్ నారాయణం (Nischal Narayanam) beat his own teacher to set a new world record for memorising 225 random objects earning a place for himself in the Guinness Book of Records. Narayanam, 11, a Class VI student of the Gitanjali School, Hyderabad, beat his own master Squadron Leader Jayasimha, who had set the record in 2005 by memorising 200 objects.

Narayanam was not only able to recall all 225 assorted objects but he also remembered the numbers assigned to them.

“Initially I was very tense. But after I was blindfolded I became relaxed and just took the name of God. I was confident I would be able to make it.I am very excited after having achieved this feat. All the credit goes to my mother who is my mentor,” said Narayanam.

His father N Nageswara Rao is the managing director of NCS Group of Companies, while mother N Padmavathy is a housewife with a PhD in Sanskrit.

The young genius loves to play chess, abacus and cricket and likes spending time with friends. Narayanam solves mathematical problems with the help of the Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System, a method that works faster than a computer.

He can also perform rare feats on the abacus and blindfold chess. To help children learn mathematics quickly, he has developed Math Lab consisting of six volumes of books and some teaching aid material.

Narayanam says, “You need intense concentration for sitting at least three to four hours without looking at external things. But I enjoyed it every time I practised.”

A TV show and the the experience of watching Jaisimha motivated Narayanam. Some day in the future Narayanam hopes to be a good mathematician and help weak students.